Cybernation

Guess who's back... back again. JJ's back... Amundson.

That's right. I've been released from my Internet hibernation, A.K.A. cybernation. A lot has happened since my last blog post. The last time my beautiful word choice graced the fine site known as theprobasketballtalk.com instead of a dusty old local newspaper I was spitting straight truth about how the Mavericks wanted the title more than the Heat did. Man, it's great to be right all the time. The Mavs won it all, and since I drew Dallas when we decided who would cover which teams on the blog throughout the playoffs, this clearly means that I am not only the best blogger on this site, but also the greatest basketball blogger who ever lived.

Self-praise and championships aside, the NBA season has officially ended, but there is still a lot to be excited about when it comes to the NBA. That is, if there is an NBA next season. Did anyone else hear that the owners want the players to start signing non-guaranteed contracts like in the NFL? If that's what the players and owners are hung up on, I don't expect to see professional basketball in the United States ever again, because the players would never let that happen.

The draft is right around the corner and Jacob, new guy Josh and some other bozo will be in attendance. Apparently, we aren't credible enough to get media access at the event, so we'll be paying spectators just like the rest of you peons. Unacceptable. That combined with the event being in Newark, NJ, I already feel dirty. If you want to see me though we'll be around the arena with our video camera filming some fan reaction. I'll be the one interviewing people and getting on their nerves so look forward to that. Hopefully we'll get on TV, too. I'll be the one screaming at the top of my lungs in joyous excitement when the Celtics trade up to snag Chandler Parsons of Florida with the 29th pick.

Other steals:
Derrick Williams: I don't expect this to happen, but there have been rumblings that Williams could slip because of his desire to possibly play the small forward position and teams being turned off by his lack of a set position. When will people learn? They're just basketball players! If they're good they will play well regardless of position.
Kawhi Leonard: San Diego State had some other nice players, but this kid still basically turned a nothing school into a legit ranked powerhouse last season. I'm liking the Kings at No. 7 to pick up this fine hooper but I think Cleveland would be dumb to pass on him at No. 4. Another "tweener" that could be a huge payoff for the squad that selects him.
Kenneth Faried: Being from Newark, NJ, this banger could end up being the Ronny Turiaf (he kind of plays and looks like him too) of this years draft who shows up to get his hat from David Stern uninvited. Like many people I chose Morehead State to win a couple games in the NCAA Tournament because of the hilarious name, but then I caught a glimpse of this kid play and latched on as a real fan. I've seen few guys go after rebounds like he does and he's another guy that will drop because he lacks height at power forward, but will be successful regardless due to ability and desire.
David Lighty: Mocks have him going late second round but the former Buckeye can flat out shoot. Name one team that doesn't need more outside shooting. Trick question, you always need more shooting. He'll have a nice career regardless of how far he slips.
Greg Smith: He's from Fresno St. and I've never seen him play, but I have a friend by this name so I'll have a close eye on him.

(Notice I didn't mention my boy Jimmer. I still have no idea how his game will translate to the pros.)

That's it. Follow me on Twitter.

And that's the bottom line, because I said so. See you at the draft!

Rocco Carzo Stays Positive Through Slump

After netting six goals and dishing out six assists last season in his rookie effort, earning him UMass hockey team Rookie of the Year honors, Rocco Carzo has yet to put the puck in the net this year in NCAA play, and head coach Don Cahoon decided to bench the sophomore centerman for the Mass Attack's last two games against Quinnipiac and UMass Lowell, both part of a three game win streak.

“Coach [Cahoon] thought I haven't been playing up to where I should be playing,” Carzo said. “He told me, 'just watch it over, get your fire back and then start scoring again when you come back.'”

Carzo downplays the benchings, and admits that he is responsible for his own play and that Cahoon made the right decision.

“It's just a fact that I haven't been working hard,” Carzo said. I [needed] the wake up call and I'll move on from it.”

Carzo expects to play Saturday when UMass heads out for an away game against the University of Maine, and is more excited for his team's recent success than he is disappointed with his own personal struggles. Carzo maintains a positive attitude despite the fact that it would appear he is suffering from a syndrome famously known as the sophomore slump.

The sophomore slump is a phenomenon that describes a lackluster effort in the second year or installment of someone or something's career or existence. It is often used to describe athletes who's second season doesn't quite add up to their rookie effort, but was initially utilized as a term for students who became increasingly lazy in their sophomore year leading to results under the expectations they had set for themselves in their freshman year.

In this case, Carzo is an athlete and a student, but his sophomore slump has been taking place on the ice. Despite this lack of scoring, Carzo continues to look on the bright side of things.

"I'm getting shots, I'm getting chances and I'm getting a lot of minutes so I think I'll pick it up
and start producing more," Carzo said before the benching.

Carzo was able to net a goal in a scrimmage against the Swedish Under-20 National Team Saturday, Nov. 6th when he out-hustled one of his adversaries to a puck and put it in an open net, but scrimmages are just that, they are not official bouts. He was not satisfied.

"It was nothing special," Carzo said after the 5-1 University of Massachusetts victory in the scrimmage. "It was just an empty net goal."

Carzo won't lie to you and say his lack of scoring thus far isn't at all discouraging, but he is a little more worried about his team's season struggles than his own personal scoring droughts.

"I'd rather win games than score," Carzo said during the Mass Attack's opening nine game streak of winless games.

In a game on Saturday, Nov. 13th against the University of New Hampshire, UMass was still in search of its first win at the time and led 3-2 in the third period, but UNH tied the game with 41.8 seconds left in the third period to force a 3-3 tie.

"We had them down 3-2," said Carzo. "We out played them, we out battled them, but it just didn't happen."

You can see the frustration in Carzo’s body language and voice when he speaks of losses, but his attitude towards the team never changes.

The Minutemen are now 3-6-3 and have shown some signs of life as of late winning three straight, but Carzo knows that they still have a lot of work to do to recover from their slow start. He sees that the Mass Attack is a team filled with inexperienced players and tries to focus on the
bright spots in their squad.

"We've got maybe seven or eight guys in the lineup that are first year players," Carzo said. "But they've been solid. We just have to keep competing."

Carzo is a small town kid from Media, Penn. He was the second of four children in his family, all of the siblings being sisters.

“It was just me and my dad on our own in that house with four other girls,” Carzo said. “It was tough.”

Being the only male in the litter didn’t just mean having to deal with three sisters, but Carzo also had to carry on a long stretching family name. He is the fourth Rocco in the Carzo lineage.

“It’s an honor,” Carzo said. “I’m going to pass it on, obviously. The first boy is going to be Rocco.”
Carzo played just about every sport as a kid, and stuck with soccer, basketball and baseball up until the eighth grade when he decided he needed to pick one sport and stick with it.

“I chose hockey, obviously.”

He made the right choice. In Carzo’s freshman year of high school he was by far the youngest player on his high school hockey team and led the team in scoring. In his sophomore year of high school he played United States Hockey League (USHL) Junior-A hockey in Philadelphia, was the
youngest player in the league and was a top 20 scorer there.

“That’s when team’s started calling me and I knew I could take this somewhere.”
During his junior year he was still skating in the USHL in Philadelphia until one Friday night he got a call from the Des Moines Buccaneers in Iowa that shook up his life a bit.

“They said they had just traded for me,” Carzo said. “So I packed up all my stuff and left on Monday. It happened really fast.”

Carzo continued to stay positive in this situation as well. He recalls Des Moines as a fairly easy adjustment since it was a pretty big city, but the city’s surroundings sort of threw him for a loop. Carzo speaks of miles and miles of corn fields traveling from town to town, or as he put it, “a whole lot of nothing.”

“It really is a culture shock,” Carzo said. “But [the experience] got me a scholarship [to UMass]. I wouldn’t have gotten it without that.”

UMass wasn’t the only school that came calling for Carzo’s services, but when he went to visit the campus as a junior in high school he had a pretty good idea of where he was going.

“I got to meet Coach [Cahoon] and all the guys,” Carzo said. “They were just very welcoming and had everything planned out for me. I just felt like this was the best fit for me.”

Again, Carzo made the right decision, as he very much enjoys his life at UMass.

“It’s real real fun to play at the Mullins [Center],” Carzo said.

[Watch Rocco give a tour of the UMass hockey practice rink.]

When Carzo isn’t playing hockey or doing schoolwork, he likes to spend time lounging around and playing video games with his roommates and teammates sophomore forward Eddie Olczyk, red shirt freshman Anthony Raiola and sophomore defenseman Darren Rowe.

Carzo is a Business major, and plans to follow in his father’s footsteps and open up a business someday if he can’t continue his hockey career past college, but he isn’t ready to give up on that dream just yet.

Carzo has competed at two NHL team rookie camps including the Philadelphia Flyers and Chicago Blackhawks.

“The Flyers camp was great because they had all of their draft picks and minor league guys,” Carzo said. “You get to see how you compare with other guys in the nation and you get to compete with some guys in the pros.”

Carzo says that the camps are mainly to get your name out there and gain some experience playing against to talent, but he has gained some contact with professional teams.

“I think every hockey player wants to get to the pros,” Carzo said. “I stay in contact with some teams but it’s nothing special. Just talking with them.”

Carzo’s sophomore slump has yet to be overcome thus far, but as he keeps his positive attitude and continues to make good decisions, he may just break out of it yet.

Carzo Scores First Goal of Season

University of Massachusetts sophomore Rocco Carzo out-hustled a member of the Swedish Under-20 National Team to a loose puck which lead to an empty net goal for Carzo with 4:00 left in the third period, icing a 5-1 UMass hockey victory in the exhibition Saturday.

"It was nothing special," Carzo said. "It was just an empty net goal."

In addition, the sophomore was also on the ice for two more goals making him a part of three of the Mass Attack's five goals Saturday.

"You always take pride in being on the ice for our goals and not on the ice for their goals," Carzo said. "I thought my line played well."

The third period goal was Carzo's first of the season, after scoring six goals last season as a rookie, which landed him UMass Rookie of the Year honors. Carzo has not been immune to the Mass Attack's struggles this season, however.

"Coach [Don Cahoon] is expecting me to be one of the top centermen, but I'm off to a slower start [this season]," Carzo said. "But I'm getting a lot of minutes so I think I'll pick it up and start producing more."

Some of UMass' early struggles could be due to a large number of freshman and sophomore players, like Carzo, who are being counted on to give the Mass Attack good minutes for their time on the ice.

"We've got maybe seven or eight guys in the lineup that are first year players," Carzo said. "But they've been solid. The goals will come. We just have to keep competing."

UMass will need the goals to come if they hope to make any noise this season. At 0-6-3 the Minutemen are still searching for their first win in NCAA play.

Gene Weingarten and Ethics

Two time Pulitzer Prize winner Gene Weingartner brought up several issues that always seem to come up in conversations about journalism when he spoke to students, teachers, and others in the Cape Cod Lounge on the University of Amherst campus on Tuesday.

For a writer who's two most famous works have been about violinists and parents being responsible for the death's of their children, he is a pretty funny guy. Medline Blais, another Pulitzer Price winner, introduced Weingarten and gave a quote of his that advises writers to "always put the funniest word at the end of the sentence," which was later revised to "always put the funniest word at the end of the sentence underpants."

Weingartner spoke to his audience about several issues in journalism, a main one being the subject of honestly. He spoke to the crowd in a way that easily kept the attention of a group of journalism people, by showing rather than telling. Weingartner shared with his audience various stories from his career as a writer and editor, and they were in many cases as outlandish as they were funny.

The issue of honest reporting was explored quite a bit, especially when Weingarten talked about the time he impersonated a doctor in a hospital in order to gain access to talk to a gangster type that was being held there. He lied to the man in order to trick him into giving him information that he would never give him otherwise.

"I knew enough even at the age of twenty-three that I could not tell him that I was a doctor," Weingarten said. "So what I did was I held out my hand, and when he held out his hand, instead of shaking it I took his pulse."

At the time Weingarten clearly was not too concerned with being as honest as possible, but now he would advise others against his former methods. At this point he asked the audience if he had done anything ethically wrong. When a student sent guess of "no," Weingarten replied by saying, "I did something terribly wrong!"

"That was the first big story of my life, and I got it dishonestly," Weingartner said. "I would not do it again."

Safer Entry for UMass Students

If you were at last week's UMass hockey home-opener against BU, you probably either bought a ticket, got there very early, got turned away, or got involved in an ugly rush for the doors that police had to get involved in. If you were at Friday night's game against Providence you either waited patiently and orderly in a series of winding steel barricades, or in a single file line that wrapped around the side of the Mullins Center.

Neither of these things were present last week when things got a little out of control. The addition of the barricades added order to the student entrance, and this order spread all the way to the back of the line. The line was as close to single file as a triple digit group of college kids can possibly assemble, and when doors opened around 6 p.m. the entire line was inside the Mullins Center without incident.

So why was Friday night's game so much more under control outside than last week's game?

"[Last week] was a bigger crowd, a rowdier crowd," said a police officer stationed at the entrance, who wouldn't say much about last week.

Some things that could contribute to the smaller number of students could have been the games' proximity to UMass student's Halloween party time, and the fact that this was a regular home game against a Providence team who was 1-4-1 at the time rather than a home-opener against a very talented BU.

UMass worked a 3-3 tie against Providence Friday night, and dropped their game in Providence Saturday 3-2 moving the Minutemen to 0-4-2 on the season.

Student Section Fills Up Early at UMass Hockey Game

A swarm of students were turned away from the Mullins Center on Friday night as the student section filled up early for the University of Massachusetts hockey team's home opener against Boston University. Police had to get involved when the crowd of disappointed students became, as one student referred to them, "an unruly mob."

Students resorted to sneaking in Mullins Center side doors, discussing strategies of entering without a ticket, or calling an audible on their night and drinking the rest of it away.

"Should we just go get hammered?" said one student to his companions as they were some of many turned away at the door.

Police had to get involved when things got physical between two students fighting over access to a portable rest room just twenty feet from their desired entrance.

"Everyone getting arrested or blacked out tonight, it's UMass and the Mullins Center's fault," UMass student Hannah Perlmutter said after being denied entry to the game.

Another particularly upset student was Laura Lyman, who arrived at 5:50 p.m. for the 7:00 p.m. game.

"I would say about one-third of the students that tried to get in got turned down," Lyman said.

At 6:50 p.m. a police vehicle pulled up to the crowd of students and the officer inside spoke to the mass of student bodies over the vehicle's loud speaker. "There are no more seats in the students section," could be heard from the vehicle. "Please clear the area."

Five minutes later, a boisterous collective cheer emanated from near the Mullins Center entrance. The students who did not disperse after the announcement by the police, and were still milling around the area, were let in and awarded for their persistence.

When asked why a formidable group of students were let in after so many were turned away, one of the people working security at the event said it was a matter of "too much too fast."

Now the question is, should UMass increase the number of free admission seats that are reserved for students?

Lauren Kirchberger arrived at 6:20 p.m., and was turned away immediately.

"Right when we got here we heard someone yelling that they're not letting anyone else in," Kirchberger said. "Especially if they know it's going to be a big game like BU, students should have priority no matter what."

"It's our school, so we should get a majority of the seats," Sarah Shaible added.

[Pictures of the student section at the start of the game]
[Picture of the opposite side at the same time]

Kameron Moore attempts to attend every UMass hockey game, and says that this is a common problem. He suggests that students try to get to games as early as possible to avoid being turned away at the door.

"I've been shut [down] most of the times I've been here for games," Moore said. "I blame myself for today. We just got here [at 6:45 p.m.]. We didn't anticipate for it to be this crowded."

The larger than normal crowd and the alarming rate of diminishing student section seats were most likely products of Friday night's game being the home-opener for UMass, as well as BU being a tough opponent and rival in the Hockey East division. The result was a gathering of 7,021 fans, a UMass hockey record for a home-opener, according to the UMass athletics web site.

[Listen to the crowd here]

Despite the huge crowd, those students who were turned away from free student section tickets did also have the option of buying tickets for $14, a price that not everyone was happy to pay.

"I would buy a ticket if it were under $10," UMass student Kelsey Crowell said.

Some students just can't afford that price in their current situation.

"Now there's a [large number] of kids running around with nothing to do because we can't afford full price tickets," Perlmutter said. "I have $7 on my UCard so that's not going to happen."

The Minutemen (0-3-1) dropped their second consecutive game to BU (3-0-1), this time 4-3 after the Terriers put up three goals in the second period. UMass' next game with be the first of two straight against Providence (1-4-0) who will enter the Mullins Center Friday night with the puck dropping at 7 p.m.

Hockey: UMass vs. BU Preview

The University of Massachusetts hockey team is coming home after starting its season with three straight road games. UMass (0-2-1) will compete in its home opener at the Mullins Center on Friday and will face Boston University (2-0-1) for the second straight game.

UMass battled BU to a 2-2 tie last Saturday night at Agganis Arena, and "The Mass Attack" now put their efforts towards "winning the two game set," head coach Don Cahoon said.

"We played well in the second and third periods last game, but we want the win," senior forward Brian Keane said. "We want to prove ourselves to ourselves, the school, and our fans. It's a big game."

They will have the chance to prove themselves to the school and fans at the Mullins Center on Friday, something that they haven't had the chance to do yet this season.

"I'm really excited," Keane said. "Anytime we play big teams like BU we get a great following and our student section is unbelievable. Probably the best in Hockey East."

For freshman members of the Mass Attack this will be their first time playing in front of the UMass faithful.

"It's going to be awesome," freshman goalie Jeff Teglia said. "I hear it's incredible. I can't wait. Hopefully the fans gives us the energy we need to win the game."

With the energy level as high as it will be, Coach Cahoon will have to make sure it doesn't become a distraction for the first year players.

"You've got to keep it between the glass," Cahoon said. "You can't be looking around and getting caught up with the event and the ruckus. Our guys have to keep a narrow focus."

One of the things that UMass will have to focus on is getting off to a good start. The Minutemen have not yet held a lead in any of their three games this season, and have constantly been playing from behind. When asked if playing with a lead for a change was a goal going into Friday coach Cahoon answered, "no question."

"Hopefully we'll have our best first period this coming Friday," Cahoon said.

Not all bad has come from the Mass Attack's recent experience playing from behind. The Minutemen have proven that they are capable of coming back in games and reducing leads.

"This year, in the games we've kind of been behind the eight-ball," Senior goalie Paul Dainton said. "With that said, we have shown the ability to get back in games whereas previous teams may have shut down or other teams might have shut down. Our guys just don't give up which is a huge positive."

Dainton's status for Friday is still up in the air after missing last game with a leg injury, but Dainton did practice fully on Wednesday.

"It feels fine," Dainton said. "It's one of those things where you just want to be 100 percent back so it's not lingering."

If Dainton can't go Friday, the likely starter would be Teglia, who filled in for Dainton in Saturday's game and gave the Minutemen 33 saves earning him HEA Rookie of the Week honors, according to the team web site.

"I try to prepare myself like I'm going to play every single game," Teglia said.

Despite the recent familiarity between UMass and BU, the Minutemen don't expect a duplicate of the last meeting.

"It's going to be a different environment," Cahoon said. "It's going to be a different game, probably even a different lineup so it's a whole new experience."

"We definitely know who we're playing against," Keane said. "But then again, I'm sure [BU wasn't] very happy with the way they played in the second and third [periods], so I think we're going to see a whole different team."

BU also presented some problems in key areas for the Minutemen and the two game set format could give UMass a chance to prepare and fix those problems.

"They won 59 percent of the draws," Cahoon said. "We always aim to win 55 percent of the draws. They have big, strong center-ice men and that presented some problems for us."

"They're a good fast team," Teglia said. "Their forwards are really skilled and they have a couple of good defensemen that are offensive minded as well. We just need to play to our strengths and I think we'll be fine."